


Starlight, Starbright

by monkiainen



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: AU after The Girl Who Waited, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amy Dies, F/M, Falling In Love, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Rory is Doctor's Lucky Star, Tea, The Doctor Is Clueless, The Doctor Overthinks Things, The Doctor and Rory on an adventure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:16:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5239418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkiainen/pseuds/monkiainen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Doctor met Rory instead of Amy when he first regenerated? And what if they couldn't save Amy in the end? The Doctor tries his best to comfort Rory the best he can, and somehow things turn for the best for them both.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starlight, Starbright

**Author's Note:**

  * For [smallearthcat (vamplover82)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamplover82/gifts).



There are certain points in time that can't be changed no matter what. The Doctor knows that all too well, but yet he keeps on trying. Maybe he could have saved just another person, if… But there is no point in second-guessing, because life _(and TARDIS)_ usually take him where he needs to be, and when.

Like at the last time he regenerated. There is reason why he ended up in Leadworth in all the possible places and met Rory, the small and gangly 7-year-old with a passion for healing. His parents had been away, to some sort of party, and Rory had done his best to help the ragged man literally landing on his doorstep. What a sweet child. But of course, because Doctor's life is what it is, his idea of doing a little five-minute spin to cool off TARDIS' engines turned into 12 years. By then Rory had grown up to be a dashing young man with a feisty girlfriend called Amy.

At first the Doctor didn't quite understand why he didn't connect with Amy as well as he did with Rory. He was people person, humans and occasional non-humans were his thing! Maybe Amy was a Zygon in disguise! No, that wasn't it. By the time the Doctor realised what it was really about, Rory and Amy were already planning their wedding. Oh well. It wasn't the first time he had fallen for someone unavailable. Better luck next time.

But what if there was never going to be a next time? One moment Rory was there, and then he wasn't. And Amy wasn't even able to remember him.

And yet, somehow, Rory was brought back to life, and because of him the memory of the Doctor never vanished. What the Doctor couldn't predict, however, was Amy dying because of Rory trying to save her. The two of her. The past and the future. And all because of the Doctor wasn't able to land TARDIS to the right time in Amy's timestream. It was his fault, again. One of those fixed points in time he couldn't change to his liking.

The Doctor knew what it felt like to lose the person you loved the most. He had experienced it more than once in his life, too many times really. He tried his best to help Rory, but nothing he did seemed to help.

Until one day.

It was like any other day in TARDIS; punching random coordinates and trying to go somewhere else where TARDIS took them. This time they landed in LM-RVN, where a giant Starman was about to eat the entire planet. That sounded like fun! _(but only if you are a bored Time Lord, who has no idea how to comfort his still grieving human companion)_

Off they went, and somehow saved the planet from destruction, but not thanks to the Doctor. It was Rory who eventually did all the work, by guiding the Starman to a nearest uninhabited planet for food. When the Doctor later asked how he had managed it, Rory shrugged his shoulders, saying it was all about empathy.

If the Doctor could have fallen in love with Rory even more, he would have done so at that particular moment. But since he couldn't have Rory, he didn't say anything. Besides he had River, and it would be weird even for him to snog his father-in-law. Right?

Besides the Doctor had other things to worry about, like saving Queen Elizabeth I from the Spanish Armada, without bumping heads with his previous incarnation. Leela was such a warrior, fiercely so. What was it with him and strong female figures? Rory muttered something under his breath, but the Doctor didn't quite catch it because he was already making plans to make Rory smile again.

Then the Doctor took Rory to Shakara, because the best way to cope with loss was to occupy your mind with something else entirely. It had always worked for him, so he might as well try it with Rory. Then they wouldn't have to talk about Amy, right? Because talking was overrated, yes. The Doctor knew it, because he always talked and talked, and still humans and other species kept doing stupid things. Like making a virus that turned oxygen into sulphuric acid. Who does that anyway? At least Rory's nurse training came in handy, because the Doctor had no idea about medicine despite his name.

They kept on travelling together, long after the memory of Amy had started to fade. One day the Doctor realised that with Rory he had saved so many people he might as well call Rory his Lucky Star. Rory made everything better, even if he couldn't have Rory the way he wanted to. It was his destiny, really, to be the last of his kind.

What the Doctor didn't see happening in all his wisdom was that Rory felt the same way about him. It was revealed one night when they had stumbled back in Leadworth after an encounter with Kandasi. Rory had made them tea _(the Doctor could never refuse tea)_ , and they were sitting silently by the fireplace when Rory asked why the Doctor was always running from himself. What was he so afraid of? Loss? Pain? Love? All of them. Before the Doctor could answer, his mind swirling from the onslaught of difficult questions, Rory took the teacup from his hands and placed it to the coffee table.

"I would have thought that someone your age knew better", Rory murmured, kissing the Doctor affectionately. "I have waited all this time for you to say something, but then I grew tired of waiting. Haven't you ever wondered why I stayed with you even after Amy died? I could have gone back here, you know, where it's safe and dull and steady. But I chose you. You. Don't you understand what I'm saying?"

The Doctor, for once speechless, could do just one thing: to kiss Rory back, pouring all his emotions and doubts to that single kiss. This was his only chance, the fixed point in time he could never go back to and change the outcome. He had to act now.

And then he saw it – the smile on Rory's face. Maybe they had a chance together after all.


End file.
